Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Northwest Air To Fly New Tokyo-Saipan Route

By Agnes E. Donato on Saipan
Thursday: May 08, 2008

Northwest Airlines today announced that it will launch a second daily service from Tokyo to Saipan on July 1, 2008.

The new night flight out of Narita International Airport is seen as a major boost to the Northern Marianas’ visitor industry, which has been struggling with reduced airlift capacity from its largest market, Japan.

Northwest will use Airbus 330 jetliner with 34 business class and 264 economy class seats on the route. This translates to approximately 60,000 seats a year—about 30 percent of total Japan arrivals last year.

“This is the most important single step forward for the rebirth of our tourism industry since NW agreed to re-launch daily flights from Osaka last December. Just last summer, the CNMI had only 14 weekly flights from Japan. From this July, however, we will now have 28 weekly flights from Japan, double the number last year,” Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said.

He said the airline’s decision is the outcome of months of talks among Northern Marianas officials, Northwest, and key travel agents in Japan.

Visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas have been on the downslide because of reduced air service from Japan, which used to provide over 80 percent of the commonwealth’s tourists. Japan Airlines pulled out from the market in 2005. Northwest, which is the only carrier now providing scheduled service between Japan and Saipan, suspended flights from Osaka and a night service from Narita for many months. It also changed from Boeing 747s to smaller Airbus jetliners last year.

Jerry Tan, chairman of the Marianas Visitors Authority, said Northwest’s decision marks the first time an airline will fly two daily flights to Saipan from Tokyo. “It’s truly a testament to the tremendous commitment that Northwest Airlines has shown to build traffic to our Islands out of Japan,” he said.

Citing an average spending of $1,332 each Japanese tourist, Tan estimated that the new flight would bring in over $80 million over the next 12 months. He said the amount would significantly benefit tourism industry players, the government, and the entire community.

“The MVA has invested steadily to market our Islands in Japan as an ideal destination for Japanese tourists—today this investment will be paid back many, many times over.  This is the kind of investment that the MVA will continue to make to help revitalize the CNMI’s economy.” Tan said.

The head of the Northern Marianas hotel industry also hailed the new flight service.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the fastest impact to help improve our economy is to have a second daily flight from Japan, as this will bring in much needed tourist numbers and the dollars they will spend in our islands. We believe the demand is there and we’ve been simply struggling with the lack of transportation to bring in more tourists from Japan,” said Lynn Knight, chairwoman of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands.

However, one industry player has expressed concern that the tourism industry’s problem may be more than the lack of airline seats.

Ken Kaku, an official at Hyatt Regency Saipan said Japanese in general are not too keen about traveling overseas because of high fuel surcharges. He also said the Northern Marianas should look into its attractiveness as a tourist destination, especially in comparison with other beach destinations such as Guam, Bali, Phuket, and Okinawa.

The new flight will depart Narita at 10:45 p.m. daily, arriving on Saipan at 1:25 a.m. The return service will depart Saipan at 5:00 a.m., arriving at 7:40 a.m. in Narita.

Currently, Northwest offers nonstop service to Saipan from Nagoya and Osaka. But its only Narita service flies to Saipan with a stop in Nagoya.

“We are pleased to offer our customers more convenient choices to enjoy the beauty of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” said Jeffrey S. Bernier, Managing Director of Northwest Airlines in Japan.